Mailbag: Is there even a realistic way for the Heat to acquire LeBron James?

LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts against the Golden State Warriors during Game Four of the 2018 NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena on June 8, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

MIAMI — It’s time for another Heat mailbag.

If you weren’t able to ask a question this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang and @tomdangelo44). You can also email me at achiang@pbpost.com.

Anthony Chiang: Good question. While the Heat are mentioned on the list of potential destinations for LeBron this summer, there hasn’t been a lot of dialogue regarding the challenges Miami faces in trying to make that a reality. NBA salary-cap expert Albert Nahmad from the Heat Hoops blog has a great post on all of the scenarios — check it out here. But let’s get one thing out of the way, acquiring LeBron as a direct free agent signing will be extremely difficult for the Heat. Miami is already $18 million over the projected $101 million salary cap for the 2018-19 season — and that’s before dealing with the Wayne Ellington, Udonis Haslem and Dwyane Wade situations — and LeBron is expected to sign a max contract with a starting salary of $35.4 million. That means in order to create enough space under the cap to acquire LeBron as a direct free agent signing, the Heat would need to clear at least $53 million off the books. That’s going to be really, really hard.

So, the Heat are left with two other options to acquire LeBron — through a sign-and-trade or a normal trade.

The sign-and-trade route could work, but there’s one big challenge the Heat would face. Teams receiving the player in the sign-and-trade deal — in this case the Heat — can’t surpass the apron at the end of the trade. That means the Heat would be hard-capped at the apron, which is projected to be $129 million. The Heat already have 10 players under contract for 2018-19 who are due about $119 million, and will be close to $125 million if they round out their roster with just minimum deals. This puts the Heat really close to the apron. Because of this, Miami would have to send out at least $31 million to take LeBron’s $35 million salary back in a sign-and-trade.

The cleanest and easiest way for the Heat to acquire LeBron is though a normal trade. This would require LeBron to opt in to the $35.6 million player option in his current contract with the Cavaliers for next season before the June 29 deadline, and then convince Cleveland to trade him to Miami. The Heat or any other team trading for LeBron in this scenario would need to send out at least $26.5 million in salary for trade-matching purposes if the deal is done before July 1, or $28.4 million in salary if it’s done on July 6 or later.

To me, it’s going to be difficult for LeBron to convince the Cavaliers to help facilitate his departure in a sign-and-trade or normal trade. Why? Cleveland has very little incentive to make those deals happen because it would probably keep them above the luxury tax line while losing the best player in the world. And I’m sure the Cavaliers don’t want to be a luxury tax team if they lose LeBron.

@anthonyquillian: With the Grizzlies dangling Chandler Parsons and the 4th pick, could you see them going for Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson? I know they have ballooning contracts but they’d be more productive than Parsons has been for them.

Anthony Chiang: Unless Memphis really likes Hassan Whiteside and/or Tyler Johnson, I can’t see that deal happening. Memphis is reportedly dangling the No. 4 pick to help fix their cap issues, hoping it will entice a team to also take on Chandler Parsons (set to make $24 million next season and $25 million in 2019-20). It’s hard to imagine the Grizzlies making this deal for another unattractive contract.